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Wednesday, December 31, 2014

SAINT JOHN – The Cape Breton Screaming
Eagles’ road woes continued on New Year’s Eve at Harbour Station.

The Screaming Eagles fell 6-3 to the
Saint John Sea Dogs in an afternoon tilt, dropping their 15th consecutive road match. The
Eagles certainly had their chances though, outshooting the Sea Dogs 29-21
overall and 14-4 in the second period alone.

Saint John was quite opportunistic with
their chances, scoring on three of six shots in the first period. They were
able to take advantage of a few defensive miscues by Cape Breton and took the
game over in the final half of the third period.

Adam Marsh had two goals for the Sea
Dogs while singles came from Nathan Noel, Mathieu Joseph, Spencer Smallman and
Matthew Highmore. Sebastien Auger made 26 saves in the win.

Jason Bell, Kyle Farrell and Evgeny
Svechnikov scored for the Eagles. Francois Brassard made 15 saves in the loss.

Noel opened the scoring 4:00 into the
game as he sped down the wing past the Cape Breton defense and beat Brassard
five-hole.

Saint John made it 2-0 at 7:34. Samuel
Dove-McFalls' initial shot hit the post hard but the rebound found Joseph. The
Dogs forward fired the puck past Brassard to double the Sea Dogs’ lead.

Mitchell Dempsey went to the box for
checking from behind at 14:12. On the man advantage, Cape Breton committed a
brutal turnover as a pass found an open Highmore on the wing. He fed
the puck to a wide open Smallman in front of the net who beat Brassard with a
move to his backhand to give the Dogs a 3-0 lead.

Despite trailing 3-0, the Screaming
Eagles were able to outshoot the Sea Dogs 10-6 in the first period.

The tides began to turn in the second frame. With Jakub Zboril and Jack vanBoekel both in the box, Bell fired a
bullet past Auger to make it a 3-1 contest at 2:13. Less than two minutes
later, Farell tipped another hard shot from Bell past Auger to quickly get Cape
Breton within a goal.

Saint John stole some momentum back at
8:55 when Highmore fired a wrist shot past the glove of Brassard, giving the
home side a 4-2 advantage. But just 30 seconds later, Svechnikov scored to get
Cape Breton back within one.

Cape Breton was awarded a lengthy
five-on-three power play later on in the period but Saint John produced a solid
penalty kill and held a 4-3 lead after 40 minutes. Shots in the second stanza
were 14-4 in favour of the Eagles.

The opening minutes of the third were
fairly uneventful. Things changed later on though when Marsh scored a huge goal
at 12:32. Luke Green fired the puck from the blue line and Marsh redirected the
puck past Brassard making, it 5-3. Just under three minutes later, Joseph
centered the puck to Marsh who fired it in to make it a 6-3 final.

Shots were 11-5 in favour of Saint John
in the third and 29-21 Cape Breton overall.

The Saint John Sea Dogs will enter 2015
ranked ninth in the Canadian Hockey League.

The Sea Dogs slid to ninth after being
ranked eighth in the previous edition of the BMO CHL Top 10 Rankings. The Sea
Dogs lost 6-5 in Moncton on Sunday and then rebounded with a 5-1 win in Bathurst
on Monday.

Other QMJHL teams in this week’s top 10
were the Rimouski Oceanic, ranked fifth, and the Moncton Wildcats, ranked
ninth.

Here are the rankings for week 14:

This week, the Sea Dogs host the Halifax
Mooseheads on Saturday and travel to Charlottetown on Sunday. Those games are in addition to today's New Year's Eve contest against the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles.

A preview of today’s game between the
Cape Breton Screaming Eagles and Saint John Sea Dogs…

When and where: Today at 2 p.m., Harbour
Station

TV/Radio/Webcast: None/96.1 NewSong
FM/QMJHL Live

Records: The Screaming Eagles are fifth
in the Maritimes Division and 17th overall with a record of
12-19-2-3 for 29 points. The Sea Dogs are second in the Maritimes Division,
fifth overall and ranked eighth in the CHL Top 10 rankings with a 21-10-1-4
record for 47 points.

Last games: The Screaming Eagles are
coming off a 6-3 loss in Charlottetown last night. Evgeny Svechnikov, Maxim
Lazarev and Marcus Hinds scored for Cape Breton while Miguel Sullivan made 32
saves in the loss. The Sea Dogs are coming off a 5-1 win in Bathurst on Monday
night. Mitchell Dempsey, Justice Dundas, Matthew Green, Spencer Smallman and
Braydon Blight all scored for Saint John while Sebastien Auger made 27 stops in
the win.

2014-15 head-to-head: The Sea Dogs are
3-1-0-0 against the Screaming Eagles this season while Cape Breton is 1-2-0-1 against
Saint John.

Last meeting: Nov. 1 at Harbour Station
when the Sea Dogs edged the Screaming Eagles 5-4 in a shootout. Adam Marsh had
two goals while Matthew Highmore and Jakub Zboril scored solo markers for Saint
John. Loik Leveille, Phelix Martineau, Clark Bishop and Jeremie Beaudin scored
for Cape Breton. Bobby Dugan made 36 saves in the win while Francois Brassard
made 48 in the loss.

Ex-Sea Dogs on the Screaming Eagles:
None

Random stat: Cape Breton has lost 14
straight road games. Their last road win was on Oct. 8.

Tuesday, December 30, 2014

The Sea Dogs could have their biggest home crowd of the season watching them tomorrow afternoon.

Tickets are listed as “limited” for
the 2p.m. New Year’s Eve showdown between the Sea Dogs and Cape Breton
Screaming Eagles at Harbour Station.

Saint John is averaging 3,135 fans per
game after 17 home games this season, good for fifth in the QMJHL. It’s no
doubt a disappointing number given Saint John’s on ice performance, but it is
slightly up from the halfway mark of last season.

Here is Saint John’s average attendance
at the holiday break over the past five seasons. Note that the number of games
played is slightly different each season.

Season

Avg. At Half

Avg. Year End

2010-11

3,852 (4th)

4,478 (4th)

2011-12

3,950 (3rd)

4,561 (3rd)

2012-13

3,639 (4th)

3,992 (4th)

2013-14

3,029 (5th)

3,423 (5th)

2014-15

3,135 (5th)

TBD

The biggest crowd to attend a Sea Dogs
home game this year was on Sept. 19 against Bathurst – the team’s home opener - with an announced attendance of 4,609.

Mitchell Dempsey, Justice Dundas, Matthew
Green, Spencer Smallman and Braydon Blight scored for Saint John in the victory
while Sebastien Auger made 27 saves in the win.

Jordan Maher’s power play goal late in
the first period was all the Titan could register on this night. Backup
netminder Alexandre Lagace made 25 stops in the loss.

It was a fairly uneventful first period
until Dempsey opened the scoring at 11:00, finishing off a give-and-go with Dundas by beating Lagace upstairs.

Dundas made it 2-0 Sea Dogs just three
minutes later, beating Lagace glove side and giving the overage forward his
second point of the period.

Dundas’ eventful period continued at 17:18
when he was called for slashing, sending the Titan to the power play. Bathurst
would get on the board during the man advantage at 18:51 as Aaron Kerr sent a
nice pass to Maher who beat Auger to make it a 2-1 contest.

Shots were 11-7 in favour of Bathurst in
the first period.

Like the first, there wasn’t a whole lot
going on in the early goings of the second period. Matthew Green changed that
at 8:42, depositing a Julien Tessier rebound past Lagace for his first QMJHL
goal. That made it a 3-1 Saint John lead.

Soon after Auger made a big save off a
Raphael Corriveau shot, the Titan headed back to the power play at 16:37. On
the man advantage, it would be Saint John scoring. After the Titan took too
long to set up for a faceoff, Matthew Highmore took the puck after it was
dropped and fed Smallman for a breakaway. Smallman made no mistake to give
Saint John a 4-1 advantage.

Shots in the second stanza were 11-10 in
favour of Bathurst.

In the third, Blight gave the Sea Dogs a
5-1 lead at 4:27. It was his first QMJHL goal.

The rest of the third period was whatev.
Shots were 13-6 in favour of Saint John in the third and 30-28 Sea Dogs
overall.

Former Sea Dogs forward Noah Zilbert
will be seeing Saint John much more often.

The Gatineau Olympiques announced this morning via Twitter that they have traded Zilbert to the Moncton Wildcats in
exchange for Marc-Olivier Duquette and a 2015 eighth-round draft pick.

Zilbert has only played in 10 games this
season with the Olympiques, registering one assist. He appeared in his first
game since Oct. 24 yesterday in Gatineau’s 4-2 loss to Drummondville.

The Fredericton native was a
fourth-round draft pick of Saint John in the 2012 QMJHL Entry Draft. In two
seasons with the Dogs he recorded 24 goals and 17 assists in 132 games. He
was traded to Gatineau for a 2015 fourth-round draft pick at May’s draft.

Zilbert heads to a Moncton team that
currently sits second overall in the QMJHL standings and have the league’s best
winning percentage. The Wildcats and Sea Dogs next meet on Jan. 8 in Moncton.

The QMJHL’s holiday trading period ends
of Jan. 6. The Sea Dogs have made just one move, trading prospect Louis-Philip
Fortin to Shawinigan for a couple draft picks.

A preview of tonight’s game between the
Saint John Sea Dogs and Acadie-Bathurst Titan…

When and where: Tonight at 7:30 p.m., KC
Irving Regional Centre

TV/Radio/Webcast: None/96.1 NewSong
FM/QMJHL Live

Records: The Sea Dogs are second in the
Maritimes Division, fifth overall in the QMJHL and ranked eighth in the CHL Top
10 rankings with a record 20-10-1-4 for 45 points. The Titan are sixth in the
Maritimes and 18th overall with a 10-23-4-1 record for 25 points.

Last games: The Sea Dogs are coming off
a 6-5 loss in Moncton yesterday. Luke Green had two goals while singles came
from Mark Tremaine, Spencer Smallman and Juraj Siska. Sebastien Auger made 26
saves in the loss. The Titan are coming off a 4-1 loss in Charlottetown
yesterday. Aaron Kerr scored Bathurst’s lone goal while Jacob Brennan and Alexandre Lagace combined to make 31 saves.

2014-15 head-to-head: The Sea Dogs are
2-1-0-1 against the Titan this season while Bathurst is 2-2-0-0 against Saint
John.

Last meeting: Dec. 18 at Harbour Station
when the Titan edged the Sea Dogs 4-3. Andrew Ryan, Jeffrey Truchon-Viel, Yan
Plourde and Egor Popov scored for the Titan while Julien Tessier, Daniel Del
Paggio and Luke Green scored for the Dogs. Alexandre Lagace and Jacob Brennan
combined to make 22 saves in the win while Sebastien Auger made 20 in the loss.

Ex-Sea Dogs on the Titan: None

Random stat: Adam Marsh, who has led
Saint John in scoring for much of the season, has not registered a point since Dec.
7, a stretch of five games.

MONCTON - Following a ten day
break for Christmas, the Saint John Sea Dogs (20-10-1-4) travelled to
Moncton Sunday afternoon to face the rival Wildcats (23-10-0-2).

The Wildcats’ power play proved to be
the difference in an entertaining 6-5 win for Moncton. The victory extended
Moncton's win streak to six games and increased their lead atop the Maritimes
Division to three points over Saint John.

After losing their final three games
prior to Christmas, it was hoped that the break would help the young Sea Dogs
as they prepare for a hectic second half schedule. Unfortunately, the Sea Dogs
woes continued with their fourth consecutive loss. Hopefully the Sea Dogs can
get back on the right track starting tomorrow in Bathurst.

The Sea Dogs failed to capitalize on an
early two-man advantage. However, on a power play at 9:40, Luke Green picked up
the puck at the point, broke down the left wing and started to go behind the
net but instead roofed the puck over Alex Dubeau's short-side shoulder to open
the scoring.

Just over a minute later, with Sam
Dove-McFalls out of the play after a huge hit from Malatesta, MacEwen’s second
chance off a scramble found its way past Sebastien Auger to tie the score at
1-1. Ross Yates was upset with referee Mario Maillet for allowing play to
continue with an injured Sea Dog down. Yates was even less impressed when the
Sea Dogs were called for three penalties in under two minutes, including a
major/match to Jacob Zboril for supposedly kicking a Wildcat.

At 14:16, during the ensuing power
plays, Sweeney's shot off the crossbar appeared to stay out. But a video review
nearly two minutes later showed that the puck had landed just behind the goal
line and the Wildcats were ruled to be up 2-1. At 18:38, with 10 seconds left
in Zboril's penalty, Sweeney took a short pass from Askew in the slot and
rifled the puck past Auger to extend Moncton's lead to 3-1. Shots on goal
favoured Moncton 19-11 in the first.

At 7:07 of a wild second period, former
Wildcat Tremaine tipped Thomas Chabot's point shot past Dudeau to make the
score 3-2. Less than three minutes later, the QMJHL's top rated power play
connected for their third goal on their sixth try, when Askew's rocket from the
wing eluded Auger to restore Moncton's two goal lead at 9:53. At 12:47, on a
delayed penalty call, Green took a nice drop pass from Nathan Noel and wired a
wrist shot past Dubeau to cut the lead to 4-3. At 15:48, Askew created a
neutral zone turnover, then on a two on one break sent a beautiful cross ice pass
to a streaking Jacob who tipped the puck past Auger to extend Moncton's lead to
5-3. At 17:57, Smallman picked up a rebound of a Julien Tessier shot, went
around the net and stuffed the puck into the Wildcats' cage to make the score
5-4. Saint John out shot Moncton 17-7 in the second stanza.

At 11:53 of a tight checking third
period, Malatesta's point shot deflected off a Sea Dog in front of Auger and
into the top corner to restore another two-goal lead. But just 28 seconds
later, Mitch Dempsey collected the puck on the left wing, skated towards the
slot and sent a short pass to Siska who one-timed the puck past Dubeau to cut
the lead to 6-5. The Sea Dogs simply could not get another puck past Dubeau
after Siska's tally. Saint John once again out shot Moncton 15-6
in the third to end the game up 43-32 on the shot clock.

A preview of today’s game between the
Saint John Sea Dogs and Moncton Wildcats…

When and where: Today at 4 p.m., Moncton
Coliseum

TV/Radio/Webcast: None/96.1 NewSong
FM/QMJHL Live

Records: The Sea Dogs are second in the
Maritimes Division, fourth overall in the QMJHL and ranked eighth in the
CHL Top 10 rankings with a 20-9-1-4 record for 45 points. The Wildcats are
first in the Maritimes, second overall and ninth in the Top 10 with a 22-10-0-2
record for 46 points.

Last games: The Sea Dogs are coming off
a 4-3 loss to the Acadie-Bathurst Titan at Harbour Station on Dec. 18. Julien
Tessier, Daniel Del Paggio and Luke Green scored for the Sea Dogs while
Sebastien Auger made 20 saves in the loss. The Wildcats are coming off a 10-5
win over the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles on Dec. 18 at the Coliseum. Conor
Garland, Alexandre Jacob and Kyle Tibbo all scored twice for Moncton while
singles came from Adam Holwell, Jacob Sweeney, Will Bower and Eric Leger. Alex
Dubeau made 19 stops in the victory.

2014-15 head-to-head: The Sea Dogs are
1-2-0-0 against the Wildcats this season while Moncton is 2-1-0-0 against Saint
John.

Last meeting: Oct. 18 at Harbour Station
when the Sea Dogs defeated the Wildcats 7-1. Nathan Noel had two goals while
Saint John solo markers came from Luke Green, Mitchell Dempsey, Spencer
Smallman, Adam Marsh and Mathieu Joseph. Vladimir Tkachev had Moncton’s lone
goal. Sebastien Auger made 27 saves in the win while Alex Dubeau made 25 in the
loss.

Ex-Sea Dogs on the Wildcats: None

Random stat: Moncton has scored seven
shorthanded goals, the second most of any team in the league this season.
Rimouski has scored 10.

Saturday, December 27, 2014

It’s been some time since we’ve seen the
team play thanks to the QMJHL’s holiday break. But the Dogs return to action
tomorrow afternoon with a visit to Moncton to battle the Wildcats.

For those who don’t remember the Sea
Dogs, they are having a surprisingly good season. They sit second in the
Maritimes Division and fourth overall in the league with a 20-9-1-4 record for
45 points. However, they entered the break on a three-game losing streak and are just
5-4-0-1 in their past 10 games.

The Sea Dogs sit one-point back of the
Wildcats for first in the division. Tomorrow’s 4 p.m. matchup will be the
fourth meeting of the season between the two this year. Moncton has won two of
the three previous games.

Following tomorrow’s contest, the Sea Dogs
will prepare for an extremely rare Monday night game in Bathurst. That game
begins at 7:30 p.m.

On Wednesday, New Year’s Eve, Saint John
will host the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles at 2 p.m. at Harbour Station.
Tickets to that game are listed as “good” on the Harbour Station website.